Jun was out of breath.
His back was soaked with sweat as he quickly set down the stand of his motorcycle. He carried a thermal bag containing ten large boxes of Special Pizza.
The order was Cash on Delivery.
Total amount: ₱4,500.
A huge amount—money he would have to cover himself if the customer refused to accept the order.
He glanced at his watch.
12:01 PM.
The target time was 12:00 PM.
Only one minute late. Traffic had been heavy at the corner due to road construction, but Jun remained hopeful. Surely, the customer would be kind.
He pressed the doorbell of the large house.
DING-DONG!
Madam Vina came out. Wearing silk loungewear, her hair curled, hands on her hips. She looked at her expensive watch, then at Jun.
“Ma’am, your order is here. I’m sorry, I got stuck in traffic for a bit,” Jun said with a polite smile as he offered the pizza.
Vina didn’t accept it. She merely raised an eyebrow at the rider.
“What time is it?” she asked sharply.
“Ah… 12:01, ma’am,” Jun replied.
“Exactly,” Vina said coldly. “We agreed on 12:00 sharp. You’re one minute late. This order is cancelled.”
Jun’s eyes widened. “M-Ma’am? It’s just one minute. The pizza is still hot. It would be such a waste…”
“I don’t care,” Vina scoffed. “Time is gold. Late is late. I’ll order somewhere else. Take that back. I’m not paying for it.”
She turned around and walked toward the gate.
Jun broke down in tears.
“Ma’am! Please have mercy! That’s ₱4,500! That’s half my monthly salary! It will be deducted from me if I return it! My child is sick—I need the money!”
Vina paused but didn’t turn around.
“That’s your problem. Your fault for being slow.”
She slammed the gate shut.
BANG!
Jun sat down on the curb and sobbed. The ₱4,500 that was supposed to buy medicine for his child had turned into pizza he could no longer sell. Anger, sorrow, and helplessness overwhelmed him.
As he cried, he noticed several street children watching him—dirty, hungry kids who begged at the corner. They had smelled the pizza.
Jun wiped his tears and looked again at Madam Vina’s gate.
Then he stood up.
“Kids!” Jun called out. “Are you hungry?”
Five children ran toward him.
“Yes, Kuya! We’re so hungry!”
Jun laid five boxes of pizza on top of his motorcycle, right in front of Vina’s gate. He opened them. The smell of cheese, pepperoni, and ham filled the air.
“These are for you,” Jun said. “Eat. They’re my gift.”
The children shouted with joy.
“Yay! Pizza! Thank you, Kuya!”
Because of the noise, Vina came out again. She saw the “street kids” happily eating the pizza she had ordered.
“Hey!” Vina yelled. “Why are you making a mess in front of my gate?! You’re filthy! Rider, get them out of here!”
Jun looked straight into Vina’s eyes. The tears were gone.
“Ma’am, I already paid for these pizzas because you cancelled the order,” Jun said firmly. “So I get to decide who eats them. It’s better they go to the stomachs of the hungry than to the stomach of someone without a heart.”
Vina fell silent, her face turning red with anger.
What none of them knew was that across the street, a netizen had been recording everything. Jun’s tears. Vina’s cruelty. The moment he fed the children.
The video was uploaded to Facebook.
Within just two hours, it went VIRAL.
5 million views.
Anger flooded social media toward Madam Vina.
“She cancelled over one minute?! What a heartless rich woman!”
“Go to hell, you won’t be late there!”
“We’re going to find her house!”
Meanwhile, help poured in for Kuya Jun. Famous vloggers and TV shows tracked him down. Out of sympathy and admiration for his kindness, donations reached ₱500,000. His child’s hospital bills were paid, and he even managed to start his own small business.
As for Madam Vina?
Her life turned into a nightmare. Every day, people threw trash at her gate. Riders honked their horns in front of her house in protest. Netizens identified her business and boycotted it.
Out of shame and fear from the threats, Vina was forced to sell her house and move to a distant province where no one knew her.
That’s where she learned the lesson:
In the age of social media and karma, one minute of cruelty can become a lifetime of regret.